The present invention generally relates to a method and an apparatus for preventing injuries to occupants in a vehicle, and more particularly to an improved method and apparatus for preventing at least one front seat of a vehicle from collapsing into a rear seat area during collisions with a vehicle occupant safety net thereby mitigating whiplash injuries to occupants.
The use of safety devices in vehicles in order to increase safety measures to occupants therein are well known. Such safety measures have been primarily designed to mitigate injuries to the occupants during vehicle collisions, or even sudden stops. The transportation industry, mainly comprised of automobile, railroad, airline, and sea vessel businesses, has realized over time that such potential risks to their occupants may have dire consequences in incidents immediately mentioned above. Therefore, as a response to such circumstances, the transportation industry has spent enormous financial resources and time in a constant effort to improve their safety measures to minimize injuries to their occupants.
For example, safety belts are widely utilized in the transportation industry to improve safety measures to the occupants. More specifically, the safety belts maintain the occupants on the seats of the vehicles in order to prevent any outward projections of the occupants during vehicle collisions or sudden stops. The safety belts have been effective in mitigating injuries by preventing the occupants from colliding with the interior of the vehicle, or being thrown out therefrom. However, even though the safety belts may be effective in the above context, such belts are not a solution to the problem stated below.
More specifically, during most rear impacts of vehicles, namely, automobiles, the vehicle seats may collapse rearwardly at fairly low load levels and impact speeds. Upon encountering the collapse of such seats, many problems may result therefrom. For instance, when the front driving seat collapses, the driver may fall away from the vehicle controls, brakes, steering, etc., which makes it difficult to avoid subsequent accident possibilities.
Furthermore, falling rearward as the seat collapses flat may cause the occupant of the seat to slide out from the seat belt, thus allowing the occupant to hit his or her head on other portions of the interior of the vehicle. Moreover, in extreme cases, such phenomenon may cause the occupant to be ejected from the vehicle. Additionally, with the recent advice that all infants should be placed in infant seats located in the rear seats, the collapse of the front seats may cause damage to the infant maintained in the infant seat. Even further, the rearward collapse of the front seats may additionally make it difficult to extricate passengers from the rear seat area of the vehicle following collisions.
Thus, there has long been a need in the industry, and in the transportation industry in particular, for a method and an apparatus for preventing the front seats of the vehicle from collapsing into the rear seat area during vehicle collisions. In particular, there is a need to prevent such collapses in order to better resolve not only the problems stated above, but also to further mitigate whiplash injuries to the occupants of the vehicle.
The present invention addresses and overcomes the above-described deficiency of conventional vehicle seats by positioning a vehicle occupant safety net between the front seats and the rear seat area of the vehicle. Moreover, the vehicle occupant safety net is strategically secured to the vehicle in order to prevent rearward collapse of the seats thereby mitigating injuries to the occupants, namely, reducing head and neck rearward extensions which may result in whiplash motion. In addition, the safety net also prevents such collapsing of the seats into the rear seat area where the occupants, such as infants and children, may be seated. Furthermore, the vehicle occupant safety net is user-friendly to the occupants by being retractable within a net roller when its use is not desired.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a method of preventing at least one front seat of a vehicle from collapsing into a rear seat area during collisions with a vehicle occupant safety net thereby mitigating whiplash injuries to occupants. The method provides for positioning the vehicle occupant safety net between the at least one front seat and the rear seat area of the vehicle. The safety net is then secured to the vehicle. Moreover, the safety net is sized and configured to prevent the at least one front seat from collapsing rearwardly into the rear seat area during collisions thereof to mitigate whiplash injuries of the occupants.
More specifically, the safety net further comprises a net roller. The safety net may be advanceable through the net roller to be retracted therein. Furthermore, the safety net may be pullable from the net roller to extend therefrom. Such safety net may be fabricated from a lightweight, high-strength unitary material.
In addition, a body of the vehicle comprises the at least one front seat having a backside. In one embodiment, safety net may be positioned to extend generally parallel to the backside of the at least one front seat. In another embodiment, the safety net may be positioned to extend in abutting contact the backside of the at least one front seat. Furthermore, the vehicle may be an automobile.
In accordance with the present invention, the safety net has a first longitudinal edge, in which the first edge may be attached to an upper portion of a support structure of the vehicle body. The support structure of the vehicle body may be a roll bar mounted therein, in which the roll bar may be positioned between the at least one front seat and the rear seat area. Moreover, the first edge may be slidably engaged to the net roller, wherein the net roller may be attachable to the upper portion of the support structure.
Furthermore, the safety net has a second longitudinal edge, in which the second edge may be attached to side portions of the support structure. More specifically, a first strap with a snap and a second strap with a ring may attach the second edge to the side portions of the support structure. The first strap and the second strap may each connect around the side portions opposite from each other, wherein the first strap may engage across the second edge to interlock the snap with the ring of the second strap.
The second longitudinal edge may further be attached to a lower structure of the vehicle body. Such lower structure may be a floor of the vehicle. In particular, the second edge has at least one endpiece therealong, wherein the at least one endpiece may be extendable from the second edge for attachment to the lower structure of the vehicle.
Moreover, the at least one endpiece may extend from ends of the second edge for attachment to the lower structure of the vehicle, wherein the at least one endpiece is generally perpendicular to the second edge. A releasable hook and a bolt may attach the at least one endpiece to the lower structure. Specifically, the releasable hook may be attached on an exposed end of the at least one endpiece for engagement to the bolt mounted on the lower structure of the vehicle.